I just now noticed that it always deletes every blank line here... Should anyone know how to fix that, please write me... :D

It totally messes up my layout and makes it so much harder to read.

Back in the common room after this rather exhausting day, Hermione couldn't get around showing the others her "successes" on Amortentia so far.

Before she could open the app, however, three messages from Neville poped up.

Neville Longbottom has invited you to play Candy Crush

Neville Longbottom invited you to play FarmVille

Neville Longbottom invited you to play Candy Crush Soda

Hermione declined these requests and looked around to find Neville sitting in an armchair with his phone so close to his face, as if he was reading the most exciting article in the world.

He was probably just popping some candy, though.

"Oooh, what a cutie!" exclaimed Parvati, clearly too loudly, when Hermione showed them Raphaël's profile.

Lavender, Seamus and Ginny also moved closer to take a closer look.

Ron frowned as Lavender raised her eyebrows in impression and gave Hermione a meaningful look.

"Well, I'll put it this way," Ginny took the floor. "Even if that's not our wanted guy – enjoy!"

"Not my type," Hermione commented briefly.

"Excuse me?" Parvati called out stunned. "Then hand him over to me as soon as you're sure he's not a catfish."

"Gladly."

"Is this one of the students who were here from Beauxbatons two years ago? Can you remember him?" interjected Harry, turning the phone in Hermione's hand further in his direction so he could see better. Everyone thought about it for a moment but his picture didn't ring a bell.

"Well, we can just ask Fleur if she knows him," Ginny suggested. "Then the question of fake or not will have been settled quickly."

"Good idea, but does Fleur have a smartphone?" Hermione asked. "Or do we have to print out the picture and send it to her by owl?"

"Oh, yeah I'm afraid Bill and her aren't that modern yet. But I'll ask Mum.," Ginny promised. "I was going to call her again tomorrow anyway."

They looked at the rest of Hermione's rather unpleasant messages and then went through Dean's matches.

The profiles Dean had mentioned in the library were really obvious and poorly done chat bots.

"Now don't look so discouraged," Hermione said almost annoyed as her friends made long faces after showing them all the matches so far.

"We've only been trying this for a day. What did you guys expect?"

"Yeah, but I'm so impatient," Lavender whined. "And I don't want Seamus and Padma to have to keep wondering if there's someone sitting next to them in class who knows something about them that they shouldn't have read."

"We'll find the guy," Ginny assured her. "I don't care if I have to sweeten the coffee with Veritaserum for breakfast."

Ron and Harry put on a look that Hermione didn't like at all.

"No," she just called in their direction.

"In a pinch..." pondered Ron.

"No way!" Hermione braced her hands at her waist in horror. "Or I'll get you pink cat plates and plush slippers for Christmas."

Ron grimaced at her. "You've been quite irritable lately."

"I'm stressed!" Hermione put the phone away and got up from the couch abruptly.

"Not everyone can be floating around on cloud nine. You could contribute something more than stupid comments for a change."

She stepped over Ginny who was sitting on the floor and hurried to her dormitory without turning around again.

She didn't feel like arguing and being in a bad mood. Especially not with Ron.

But she was just fed up right now with always being made out to be the uptight buzzkill.

Ron was still floating around the castle in a pink bubble with Lavender and didn't really seem interested in anything else.

Even Ginny has her peace again in the meantime. Apparently he was already over the fact that his little sister had started something with Theo.

Hermione gathered up the school cloak she was carrying under her arm and threw it vigorously onto her bed.

Even Lavender was more helpful than Ron at the moment. At least she contributed something helpful now and then - not just stupid sayings.

Her phone buzzed.

Chocolate?

Hermione couldn't help but smile a little. Wasn't she just about to punch a pillow...

"Is that your cure-all?" she asked jokingly as she sat next to Dean on the steps a little while later, a steaming mug beside her on the carpet.

She didn't have to look at Dean to know he was grinning widely at her, as he often did.

"I wouldn't recommended it for nausea, but otherwise it never hurts."

"Hmm," Hermione hummed, watching the tiny marshmallows floating on the hot chocolate.

"I'm sure you'll find out who it is," Dean assured her. "But now let's just talk about something completely different. After all, if everything is about school and catfish-hunting all day, you can't be in a good mood."

He thought for a moment and finally asked, "So how do you celebrate Christmas?"

Hermione pursed her lips and stifled a sigh.

"Oh, not a good topic either?"

"Yes, no, well..." Hermione bit her tongue.

"Actually, yes, I like Christmas," she began. "Right now I'm just a little... I'm not mad at my parents, but I can't say I'm looking forward to the holidays at home either."

"I see." Dean set his cup down beside him as well.

"I think if it wasn't for my siblings, my parents would be pretty on my nerves too. After all, I'm the first of the family to finish school now and actually have to make serious decisions for once. But so far, the little ones are keeping them so busy that they don't even have the energy to bother with it too much."

"I didn't even ask you any more about it," Hermione remembered. "What would you like to do after Hogwarts?"

"Last year I was pretty sure I wanted to work in muggle relations. Kind of lends itself to that and they're always looking for people." Dean hunched his shoulders and looked down at his feet, a little lost in thought.

"But by now I feel like I'd rather do something creative, though." He laughed out and shook his head.

"My parents were actually quite enthusiastic about it. They thought I should become an art teacher. After all, I'd be good with children."

Hermione smiled, even though at the same time she had to think of an unpleasant discussion with her parents during the last summer holidays. Her father was insisting on getting her an internship for the weeks after her graduation. In some dusty law office of one of his friends.

"Well, you can teach magical children," she interjected.

"You mean magical children of abnormally rich parents who place too much importance on their bloodline?"

"Maybe then they'd be onfident enough to make posters for their house parties," Hermione joked.

"But seriously, there are plenty of creative professions. You could..." She thought for a moment and then began to list everything she could think of.

"You could be an illustrator for a magazine or newspaper, design advertisements, make wands, do portraits, design the packages of new sweets... even for phantom pictures the Aurors need someone who can draw."

Dean looked from his feet up to Hermione. His grin had shrunk to a soft smile, but it was at least as warm as the chocolate beside them.

"I'll definitely keep enough time free to design your election posters if you run for Minister of Magic then."

Hermione dismissed that with a laugh and concentrated on not blushing.

What was wrong with her? You'd almost think there was eggnogg in her stomach instead of hot chocolate.

"To answer your actual question," she steered the topic back to the upcoming holidays.

"Sometimes I used to go skiing in Switzerland with my parents over Christmas and New Year's Eve. But we haven't done that for a while. When we stayed at home, my grandparents used to come and stay with us for the holidays. But now only my grandmother on my father's side is left. All in all, I would say we celebrate Christmas in a very stuffy way. My mother cooks something elaborate on the 24th and we watch a cheesy Christmas film. On the 25th there are presents, my parents and grandma insist on watching the Queen's Speech on TV, then we go for a walk depending on the weather and eat too much cake. But with less sugar than the recipe actually says, of course."

She smirked into her cup. If her parents knew how much she actually snacked on at Hogwarts...

"When all four grandparents were still around, it was actually quite funny. My grandpas always liked to play little tricks on my parents and my grandmas had stories ready for every single photo in our photo albums."

Hermione pinched her lips together.

"Now that there are only four of us, it's a bit exhausting sometimes. My grandma is understandably melancholic because she misses my grandpa and my parents have had little else to talk about for two years now other than professions, internships, internships abroad... On New Year's Eve, I was usually already here or at the burrow when we weren't skiing, actually. My parents are invited to some friends' parties every year and I've always hated those."

Dean was silent for a moment before he said something in response.

"Christmas always gets pretty crowded and loud at our house." He looked down at his feet again and tapped his thumb on the rim of his cup a little uneasily.

"So if you need a break from your parents in between, feel free to call me. Usually nobody notices if I'm just not there for a bit. You can tell them we need to talk about something school related or something."

Hermione noticed that he had fished his headphones out of his pocket.

He held out one of the two headphone plugs to her. She realised that he didn't want to hear an answer to his suggestion just then.

Hermione didn't know the song, but she liked it. It was relatively quiet and she liked the subtle piano.

And I, I never understood what was at stake

I never thought your love was worth it's wait

Well now you've come and gone

I finally worked it out

I worked it out

Before she really realised what she was doing, her head was leaning against Dean's shoulder.

Her cocoa was cold, but she didn't want to take the last sip for a long time. She wanted to sit here and listen to music and wonder why her heart was beating so fast.

In fact, for a few brief moments she stopped thinking about Amortentia, the Catfish, final exams or anything at all.

I never should have told you

I never should have let you see inside

Don't want it troubling your mind

Won't you let it be

They sat on the steps until the first people went past them upstairs to the dormitories.

Three songs had passed and still it seemed like seconds to her.

"Thank you," Hermione spoke up as they both stood up.

Dean just smiled again and wrapped the headphone cord around his hand.

"Good night," he said, taking the now-empty cup from her.

"Good night."

Raphaël_A_B - 9:50 pm

I'm very glad you answered :)

I actually graduated from school last year. But yes, I went to Beauxbatons.

I was really jealous when I didn't get to go to the Triwizard Tournament two years ago. I always wanted to do an exchange year or something like that, but it didn't work out. Have you traveled much?

Hermione - 9:59 pm

Oh yeah, that was really eventful year. In the positive as well as the negative.

I've been to France and Switzerland so far. But those were just holidays with my parents, so it's been limited to the muggle areas.

Hermione thought for a moment. That was quite a challenge, actually. After all, if the conversation was to keep going, she had to ask follow-up questions. But what should she ask a complete stranger?

But if it was the person she was looking for, he would make sure she was interested in him, wouldn't he?

Raphaël_A_B - 10:01 pm

At least that's more than I've seen of the world so far :)

I take it your parents are both muggles then? I'm half muggle too, my mother brought magic into our family. Which areas of France have you been to?

I currently live in Quiberon, but I was born and raised in Dijon.

Crap, now they were online at the same time. So she had even less time to think about her messages.

Hermione - 22:03 pm

I've actually been to Dijon a few times. My parents have friends there. I have never visited the Bretagne, but it's high up on my list.

Once we spent a few days in Toulon and Cannes, which was also very nice.

What brought you to Quiberon?

Raphaël_A_B - 10:05 pm

Haha, what a coincidence! Cannes has something to it. I haven't been to Toulon myself, yet.

I'm here for my job. The Quiberon Quafflepunchers agent spotted me at a game last year and I was signed straight out of school.

Hermione looked at the screen, stunned.

Okay, that was a lot of coincidences all at once now. He was from a place she knew and liked, he played quidditch, like her very public first flirtation two years ago - what was next? A heart for magical beasts and animals, perhaps?

Her mood, which had been subdued just a moment ago, and the fatigue that had set in, seemed to have been blown away.

Could it really be that after just one day she had the wanted guy on the hook?

She looked around her room.

Lavender was already asleep and Parvati was reading a book. She didn't want to open a can of worms at this hour and startle them both. That could wait until tomorrow.

Besides, she didn't want to get her hopes up too much right away. It could still all be coincidence.

Hermione thought hard about her next message.

Regardless of whether it was a direct hit or not, she would pretend to be enthusiastic for now and keep the conversation going. After all, she wanted to be able to end this spook as soon as possible.

Hermione - 10:09 pm

Wow, congratulations! That sounds like every quidditch-loving student's dream.

That means you moved to the other side of the country straight out of school? I imagine that would be quite difficult.

I honestly don't know if I could do that. Somehow I see myself staying in the south of England. If not in London, then still near my friends.

Raphaël_A_B - 10:11 pm

Yes, it's not easy, but I think it will get better over time. Luckily I get on quite well with my team mates and we do travel a lot, but away from training and matches it does get lonely here sometimes.

The place is quite pretty, but it also has something melancholic about it. I guess on some days you feel lonelier here than you actually are.

That's why I'm quite happy that I stumbled across this app. It's a good way to distract yourself. Especially when a match is as likeable and conversational as you are :)

Hermione - 10:13 pm

Haha, yeah I imagine that doesn't apply to everyone on Amortentia. Apart from you, all I've gotten so far are very strange pick-up lines and some simple „Hi"s.

Raphaël_A_B - 10:14 pm

Oh dear, I really feel sorry for women on apps like this. I think you have to listen to much worse things than we men do. What has been your negative highlight so far?

Hermione - 10:15 pm

I think the sad prize goes to "Up for a little magic? My wand is ready ".

But some profiles of classmates I would also very much like to forget again.

Raphaël_A_B - 10:17 pm

Ouch. That's really awful.

But hey, actually I have to thank idiots like that, they just make me look a lot better :D

I have to go to bed now, the training today was pretty exhausting. Looking forward to reading from you again tomorrow though, if you like.

Good night :)

Hermione - 10:18 pm

Good night, sleep well!

Hermione put her phone aside and grabbed her toothbrush. Let's see what the others would say about all this tomorrow.